Love and a Winner

 For my impromptu Advent-in-April, I've crafted hope and peace, and now it's time for love. 

I think I'm sending this to our pastor, who will be leaving us in June to become a district superintendent in another district of our church. She's an amazing administrative leader and will be fantastic in her new post. One of her favorite sayings is, "God loves you, and there's nothing you can do about it!" 

And now for our winner. Many thanks to those who left comments, and our random winner is Joann!

Joann1964April 19, 2021 at 10:05 AM

Beautiful card! Love the happy colors! His Peace has sustained me in these last six months since I lost Darrel. Some days are harder than others but Joy does come to me in some part of every day. I also am a member of Peace Lutheran.

Joann, please email me at susanraihala at roadrunner dot com with your snail mail address so I can send you a piece of peace!

Hope, peace, love, and joy,

Susan

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Sending You Peaceful Vibes

It might be spring right now in the northern hemisphere, but I can't get Advent off my mind. The four themes for Advent are peace, hope, love, and joy. Yesterday, my card was about hope. Today, we're diving into peace.

There wasn't much peace, actually, during the nativity, except perhaps in Mary's heart. I've heard that peace isn't the absence of conflict but an inner serenity during it. If we can connect with peace--whether we call that peace the Prince of Peace or not--deep in our soul, it doesn't really matter what is going on outside us. 

That's the peace I seek to cultivate...and fail daily at. Oh, my! Stress just sneaks in around the edges and keeps me up at night. My dentist mentioned what he calls the COVID grind; he's made a lot of money in the past year fixing teeth broken by nighttime grinding. 

I wear a bite guard at night because my grind started long before COVID was a thing. No matter how many times I repeat the mantra "give it to God and go to sleep," I just can't get there most nights. The peace that passes understanding rises in me occasionally (thank you, Jesus), but rarely at night when I need it most. 

Maybe this resonates with your own experience. I HOPE not; I hope you give it to God or the universe and go to sleep in peace each night. But if not, then maybe this post and today's card will help you feel not alone. We are never alone. 

I'll pick a random commenter to receive this card in the mail. Wherever in the world you are. Comment before midnight, EDST on Tuesday, April 20, either on the blog post or on this post on Facebook. Share what's keeping you from peace or what brings you peace...whatever you need to share. 

Peace, hope, love, and joy,

Susan

Hope Springs Eternal

Things I am grateful for:

Second Pfizer vaccine received, just one more week of quarantine.

The Calm app.

All the donors to Karen's Card Shop.

Spring.

Hope.

Today's card was inspired by our drive back from Cincinnati after receiving our second vaccine. We'd had lunch with our son who's at University of Cincinnati, and it was a rather dreary, drippy day. Along one stretch of I-71, the trees had leafed out in so many different shades of green. 

Green symbolizes hope. So many shades of hope. 

We are searching for a new house and have found one we love. Not sure it will happen, but I hope. (And since this is a crafty blog, I'll add that my craft room will be AMAZING if we can make this deal work.)

I hope. 

Mercy, grace, peace, and love,

Susan